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Marcus Aurelius: Hagel as Theater or Change Agent?

Sen Hagel, if confirmed as SECDEF, may start firing Service Secretaries. Keeping Acquisition and Intelligence will be a sure sign that nothing is actually going to change. Sources: Carter, Others Expected To Stay By Zachary Fryer-Biggs and Marcus Weisgerber Washington Post, 21 January 2013 Although the transition between presidential terms is usually marked by large-scale personnel …

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Marcus Aurelius: Letter from Joint Chiefs to Senate Armed Service Committee — Comment by Robert Steele + DoD Transformation RECAP

The letter appears only on the Association of the US Navy website, it does not appear at the Joint Chiefs website. Letter from Joint Chiefs Following Armed Forces Press Service item ((DOES)) appear as of 2042 EST, 19Jan13: Sequestration Will Hollow Out Force Fast, Dempsey Says By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service ABOARD A …

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Reflections on the Inability of Washington to Think with Integrity

Power corrupts, no doubt about it.  What most people miss is that it is not just about financial corruption that explicitly mis-directs scarce resources to benefit the few over the many (with Congress taking its standard 5% kick-back for delivering earmarks).  Power also corrupts intellect.  People forget how to think.  They begin talking among themselves, …

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Chuck Spinney: Pivotng to China — Criminally Insane, Business as Usual

The attached report by Greg Jaffe in the Washington Post (from 1 August 2012) is an excellent case study of the inside-the-beltway networking by the players in the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex (MICC).  Jaffe shows these networks build a consensus to keep defense spending high when wars end and a terrifying peace dividend …

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Reflections on Lincoln, Principle, Compromise, Autonomous Internet & Citizen Intelligence / Counter-Intelligence 2.0 with Meta-RECAP

EDIT of 21 January 2013:  I have gotten both sharp criticism from folks I revere, and complements.  I am more than willing to delete this, but I am more interested in having people think outside the lines.  I’ve made some revisions, adding issues and readings in each section.   Email me as you please, robert.david.steele.vivas [at] …

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Chuck Spinney: Afghan Fraud, Permanent War, VERY Expensive – Robert Steele: $2 Trillion a Year for DoD is Criminally Insane

Obama may want out of Afghanistan, but he is under to pressure to stay, and the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex (MICC) still has a budgetary interest in maintaining perpetual war, be it cold or hot ( for reasons I explained here). The bloom is off the Karzai rose (as Amy Davidson explained in her 11 Jan …

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Marcus Aurelius: Pentagon Would Furlough All Civilians Under Revised Sequestration — This Is a Lie Being Told By Mixing Half-Truths and Eschewing Intelligence with Integrity

Reading the report, the fine print says sequestration is unlikely to occur. Pentagon would furlough all civilians under revised sequestration, analyst says Chalres S. Clark Government Executive, 9 January 2013 Unless Congress achieves a deal to head off the revised schedule for across-the-board spending cuts, the Defense Department in March will be forced to begin …

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